A calf's open jaws reveal a pink soft palate that releases excess body heat, and a hang
ing sieve of baleen that strains tiny prey from the sea. Unique to right whales, rough skin
callosities develop in patterns that identify individuals as clearly as fingerprints.
bulge of blubber. Its size has proved to be an accu
rate predictor of survival.) "We don't even have
a category for a whale with a fat roll that big."
"They're so clean! Not a mark on them."
Over the next three weeks, hundreds arrived
in succession to give birth and nurse pale-colored
infants or churn the water in SAGs and com
pete for mates before heading back to the open
sea. Gales blew from all directions-this was
midwinter in the Southern Hemisphere-coat
ing the hillsides with snow. Researchers beat
through the waves in a skiff to take identifica
tion photos and collect skin samples with small,
hollow-tipped darts so they could define the
genetic makeup of this recovering population
more closely. Glenn Dunshea, from Australia's
Center for Applied Marine Mammal Science,
was interested in telomeres-DNA sequences at
the tips of chromosomes that gradually shorten
throughout an animal's life. By studying them in
right whales, which may live at least the better
part of a century (their close cousins, bow
heads, may reach two), he hopes to discover
more about telomeres' role in the aging pro
cess. Wouldn't it be humbling if a map to the
legendary fountain of youth lay hidden within
creatures we almost exterminated?
Kraus and Rolland roamed in a second skiffto
RIGHT WHALES 109